'The perfect start': The new Chinese brand that has Australians handing in their Toyota LandCruisers and Prados

A new Chinese brand says it is off to the "perfect start" in Australia, with executives confirming its earliest customers are trading in Toyota LandCruisers and Prados, Lexus GX and LX and Range Rovers to climb into their vehicles.

That brand is BYD's premium arm Denza, which has just arrived in Australia with the B5 and B8 off-road-focused SUVs, sized to compete head-on with the ladder-frame SUVs from Toyota and Lexus, as well as monocoque offerings from Range Rover, BMW and Audi.

And, so says the brand's new COO Mark Harland, that's precisely what's occurring, with the executive declaring the brand's launch in Australia is off to a "perfect start".

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"I believe we have the luxury, the technology, the off-road capability to compete with any SUV,” Harland said. "And we’ve priced (the B5 and B8) so we can (interest) people that are looking at the very ultra-luxury premium price points, but also people that are looking to stretch their budget a little bit.

"When I look at the cars that are being traded in early… it’s everything from Range Rovers to LandCruisers, Prados, Audis, BMWs - we’re seeing quite a range. And if I could have imagined a perfect start, this is it."

Mr Harland says others not trading in cars are burning deposits with other car companies to get into a Denza, with the executive assuring that he can request as many vehicles as he wants from his Chinese HQ and have them in Australia in weeks, not months. And that, he says, has fuelled aspirations for Denza to climb to the top of the premium podium in Australia.

"If someone said 'I want 1000 B8s' so we had pre-orders for 1000 B8s, I could put a call into the factory today and know that they would be on a boat, on their way here," he says.

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Denza B5

"In most cases, it's six-to-eight weeks from the time that I ask the factory for the order to the time they're being delivered to the customer.

"So getting in the top three-to-five, I think is certainly achievable. When could I knock off Mercedes and BMW? That's probably a little further into the future, but yes, there'd be a mission to do that down the track. But I don't want to get ahead of myself."

It's worth pointing out that Denza has sold almost 2000 vehicles at the time of publishing, so there is still a mountain climb to reach anywhere near the 26,000 units of the LandCruiser (across all styles) that Toyota managed in 2025 – or the more than 14,000 sales Lexus managed last year across its models – but Denza says it recognises the challenges.

"We've got to build this out properly and bring the right cars in. So, I think we're starting in segments that are really important and have high volume. I think that's important," Mr Harland says.